The present invention is directed toward a teaching machine and more particularly toward a teaching machine which incorporates the use of the telephone line to deliver tape recorded instructions, questions and answers. The machine also receives the student's spoke responses and receives indications from the student as to the correctness or incorrectness of his response which is indicated by the student by dialing a number on the phone. Instruction in foreign language is particularly appropriate for the system of the invention but other subject matter can also be taught.
The prior art includes teaching machines in which instructions or questions from a tape recorder or the like are presented to the student who then responds usually by operating a keyboard or similar device on the machine. However, in only one case known to applicant has the use of a telephone-mediated teaching device been disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,256 to Freeman discloses a teaching machine in which a tape recorder is used to present instructions or multiple choice questions to the student. The student responds by dialing a digit on his telephone corresponding to his selected answer and the choice made determines the next track of the tape to be played. For example, if a 2 is dialed, the next track played is track 2. The tape always proceeds in the forward direction, playing one of the several tracks and apparently without stopping at the end of a question.
There are several disadvantages of the Freeman teaching machine system. First, the response that is called for is always a multiple choice response. Particularly when teaching a foreign language, the desired response should be spoken by the student and a multiple choice response system is clearly undesirable.
Freeman also makes no provision for the automatic return to and replaying of questions which the student answered incorrectly. For the purpose of instruction in a foreign language, a second delayed opportunity to translate a sentence from one language to another, after an initial error is made and after being presented with the correct translation, is highly desirable and is not available with the Freeman system.
Even further, the Freeman patent appears to require the use of an unconventional tape recorder with four or more playback heads. Thus, special equipment is required which would greatly increase the cost thereof over conventional stereo tape recorders with two playback heads.